Resolve to Kick These 9 Tired Styling Excuses to the Curb This Year

Yeah just how do you explain away that endless string of bad hair days? Offering up you’ve too been busy teaching your ferret to yodel to deal with it doesn’t count.

Don’t worry. There are some perfectly legit excuses I’m sure. Plus everyone has a bad hair day from time to time. Still to get past any self-delusions you may want to …

Because it’s not that hard. And for sure it’s not like we don’t know any better.

Most of us get a magazine or two each month that includes a hair care article or two or three that are full of good advice from styling pros.

Many regularly visit our fave websites that readily shares great tips and ideas.

Some of us even participate in online forums.

Yet we blow dry our hair without first spritzing with heat protectant. Or we know we should not color treat too often yet should things begin to turn the least bit brassy it’s off to buy another coloring kit. Or we wallow in inertia and keep putting off getting our bangs trims preferring to adjust to a world view through hair. And then we justify it by telling ourselves we’re busy, we’re stressed, we’ve got more important things to worry about.

Until our hair stops looking even remotely good that is. Then it becomes a crisis that must be fixed now at all costs.

Stylists see this all the time. Casually chatting with those in the chair in front of them they quickly discover the thing holding back too many are their personal hair hang ups and lame excuses.

Turns out it is easier to rationalize our hair sabotaging behavior than it is to do what we know we should. Cheerfully ignoring the fact that doing what we should works. Often those with the best looking hair have simply faced up to the fact that the problem is staring them in the mirror and have taken action to do better.

Frankly if you are dreaming of better looking hair this year, you’ll have to banish your hair styling excuses. Because if you’re willing to believe the little lies we tell ourselves, nothing will change for the better. Even if it is far better to face whatever challenges you have directly.

Okay if you want to stop being your hair’s worst enemy, what are some of the top excuses and white lies we tell ourselves.

1. Highlights: “You can’t have too many highlights, right?”

Actually you can. A quick look around at the mall will confirm that fact. The trick to natural looking highlights, with an emphasis on natural, is getting the right shade streaked in the right place. Just like what would develop were you to spend any time say at the beach.

Which is to say where they are matters. A lot. Yet too many end up casually highlighting their hair themselves until it gets the point you can’t tell the highlighted hair from the rest. In essence what happens is their base shade is lost in the blizzard of highlights.

Yet you don’t need a lot of highlights to properly compliment your God given color.

This is why if you highlight at home you’ll want to use this trick. To make sure you don’t overdo it, get a baby toothbrush to apply the product so you avoid huge, amateurish looking streaks. You’ll also want to style your hair first like you typically wear it so you are putting the highlights where they’ll be seen. Otherwise why bother? Know what I mean? For more on guidance you might want to follow these highlighting tips.

2. Bangs: “My bangs are hopeless. They always fall into my eyes or get horribly greasy.”

Does it feel like you are constantly battling your bangs and losing? Find yourself tucking them behind your ears or wearing them pinned over to one side all the time? If that’s because you are a fraidy cat when it comes to trimming them yourself, this “how to” for cutting your own bangs might help.

Otherwise if you are craving long, full, sexy yet somewhat tousled bangs remember a bit of thickening spray can add the volume you seek. After applying the product, grab your paddle brush, blow dry them to one side. Then flip things up and blow dry them to the other for even more fullness and body. Also remember dry shampoo is a great way to boost the body and de-grease any second day fringe.

3. Shampooing: “I’ve washed my hair every day all my life. To not do so is just gross.”

Yeah been there done that. Yet over washing our mane is something we all should work to avoid. Unless you have super fine hair that is producing an excessive amount of oil there is likely no need to wash your hair daily. I mean just because the planet revolved around another time, does that necessarily mean you have to lather up? Not hardly. There is nothing wrong with skipping a wash or two or three even. Especially when dry shampoo makes it easier than ever to have a good looking, low maintenance mane.

Besides a little more oil on your hair will help control frizzies. You can easily add a ton of body too by taking a curling iron to the your day old strands midshaft and below. Once they’ve set rake the curls with your fingers to loosen them up a little and be prepared to be impressed with the lift and life you’ve instilled into your second day hair. Want more ideas? There are plenty of additional suggestions for fabulous looking second day hair to be had here.

4. Flyways: “This is just how my hair is sometimes. For me flyaways are a fact of life.”

Nonsense. If you’ve ever gone through a rough patch with flyaways flying all over my guess is it either happened during the winter when staticy hair is more common due to all the dry, furnace heated air blowing around. Or your hair is simply in need of some moisturizing. But this is definitely not a situation you have to accept. Moisture can neutralize the positive ions that are making your strands repellent to each other which results in a look no one wants. You can fix that by using the right shampoo or conditioner. Or by using a leave in conditioner applied to your strands ear level and below.

5. Lack of Shine: “Some people have shinier hair that others. Mine just isn’t.”

Isn’t what? Shiny? Look, you don’t have to accept dull hair. There are things even those with curly hair, which can be truly less light reflective, can try if they want hair that is seriously shiny. The number one culprit too often is product build up. And the number one natural way to defeat that problem is apple cider vinegar. (Warning: Don’t try this at home if you’ve colored your hair. The vinegar can strip away the color.) Simply create a solution that is half water half vinegar and mist that into your hair. Then rinse. Another idea for those in a hurry? Shine spray.

6. Ponytail Problems: “Believe it not I find a chic pony tail hard to pull off. So I don’t bother. ”

Pony tails offer so many too-lazy-to-style-today options. What’s not to like? Anytime you need a look that’s effortlessly chic try a low pontail. The key, according to Allure magazine, is in the blowout. You want one that makes use of volumizing spray spritzed into the roots. Another trick is to quickly run a flatiron ONCE over small sections of the tail. It just takes a few minutes to polish things up a bit. Finally leave some pieces loose to frame your face and you’re done. If this isn’t enough, read up on other ideas for cute ponytail hairstyles.

No problem. And no doubt bob hairstyles can be gorgeous. You’re right. Yet the truth is if you have shoulder length or a bit longer hair a faux bob can give you the look without cutting a single strand. That’s right, no scissors required. It all begins at the beginning. Which is to say you want to use a generous amount of mousse to give your locks some serious texture and volume. The classic approach is to curl your mane with an iron. Then pull your hair into a super low ponytail and tuck that up. This will require an elastic and plenty of bobby pins. Hair spray will help hold the look. There you go. Shorter looking hair sans commitment.

Should you decide you want to give this a try but aren’t exactly sure, you can follow the video tutorial for a glamorous and foxy faux bob.

8. Styling Tools: “I’m a klutz. All thumbs. For me using rollers is more complicated and confusing than it looks. I’ll never master them.”

Not true. You can master any of this if you try. You probably weren’t great at applying eye liner at first either but you didn’t quit. So why quit when it comes to styling techniques? Velcro rollers are a practically goofproof way to add some badly needed curl.

Setting the wave isn’t hard either. Three steps. Spritz a lightweight hold spray on a section of hair lifted off the crown of your head. Wrap it around a medium sized roller with the roller pointed ear to ear. Repeat twice more so all the hair on top is curled. Then two times more on the sides. Fire up your blow dryer and use the hot air to set the curl in those seven rollers. Let them cool down and just five minutes later you’ll have softly curled hair that looks amazing.

9. Flat Fine Hair: “I’m just stuck with fine hair that will never look full and thick. It sucks. But what’s a girl to do?”

I know it can feel that way sometimes. But you can get thicker quicker if you know a few tricks and home remedies for making thin hair thicker. Just take care because if you try too hard your hair will fall flat despite your best efforts.

Other than heeding that advice, hair coloring is an unexpected way to put more meat on those limp and thin looking bones. It works by making each strand appear a bit thicker. Plus you create extra body naturally by ruffling the cuticles just a little.

Then you may have gotten yourself an ionic hair dryer to zap frizz. That works. Yet all those ions also zap the any precious volume your fine hair musters on its own. So forget the ionic setting.

Or you could try different root lifting products that can plump up the appearance of finer hair. Some truly amazing fixes have come to market which work without weighing your locks down.

Just be careful. Once you stop making excuses for your hair it may end up looking like you stole it from a hair product ad it will be so stunning. And what is wrong with walking around with hair putting off a mega-watt shine with a nice healthy bounce and swing? Nothing in my book.

Related posts:

About Tori

Tori is a recovering shoe addict and aspiring beach bum with a devotion to all things chocolate. Her goal is to make TerrificTresses your online destination for all things hair. Whether it’s ideas to keep things stylish and chic or answers to nagging hair care problems, you’ll find it here. You might look at as your irregular dose of hair care inspiration. Oh and you can find me on GooglePlus too.